Castles in the sky are meant to be built

The research focus in VTT’s Sustainable Products and Services business area is on three key areas: bioeconomy, circular economy, and digitalization. Reflecting on January 2025, another school term and a busy autumn at work have concluded. Autumn 2024 was filled with significant events worth documenting. I will summarize a few highlights in this blog. Through these actions and projects, we will substantially contribute to advancing a more productive, flourishing, and sustainable Finland. 

The significance of research infrastructure and equipment cannot be overstated concerning the research and development of future materials. Sadly, funding for constructing new facilities and maintaining existing infrastructure is very limited—a challenge that all universities and research institutes are undoubtedly familiar with. VTT’s piloting centers and infrastructure facilities facilitate the scaling up of innovations from laboratories to pilot scale, thereby laying the groundwork for producing new products in an industrial setting.

In 2023, the VTT Board decided to invest in renewing the forest industry and producing new bio-based products. In August 2024, innovation programme that revolutionises the manufacturing technologies for fiber-based products got off to a strong start. VTT is constructing the new pilot line in Jyväskylä in collaboration with the Finnish company Anpap. The EUR 20 million partnership initiative, partially funded by the EU, involves more than 50 companies. The sustainability goal of the program is to reduce water consumption in fiber product manufacturing by 90% and energy consumption by up to 50% while also creating significant growth potential for the industry.

In August, we also presented the results of the Business Finland-funded Forest CUMP project, particularly the newly opened pilot plant at VTT Bioruukki. The pilot plant aims to refine CO2 emissions from the forest industry into long-lasting, recyclable plastics. Finland has significant growth potential in this area as well. Currently, we produce approximately 30 million tons of bio-based carbon dioxide each year. Capturing and converting this CO2 into products could position Finland as a major producer and exporter of polymers and transportation fuels from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Developed by VTT, a skin spray based on nanocellulose and berry extracts is well-suited for treating wounds and eliminating hospital bacteria. This innovation addresses a significant global challenge: bacterial resistance to antibiotics. The skin spray, along with many other research-based inventions at various research institutes and universities, has the potential to evolve into new deep-tech companies and success stories for Finland. A highly effective national initiative would be to provide even greater support for advancing promising technologies toward piloting and commercialization.

Global society is evolving through electrification. Critical raw materials like lithium are central to the development and global discussions. The EU project LITHOS, led by VTT, was launched in September 2024. The project aims to enhance lithium recovery from existing reserves and to develop innovations in processing mineral impurities.  All actions safeguarding self-sufficiency in critical raw materials are vital in today’s electrified world. This project exemplifies the building of European research cooperation. EU consortia, led by VTT, typically include Finnish companies, providing them access to cutting-edge European research and the chance to be part of various partner networks. 

The role of biotechnology as a source of innovations and growth has gained momentum in recent years across the EU and globally.

A significant milestone in cooperation between Finland and the United States was reached in September 2023, when representatives of both countries met in Helsinki for the Joint Committee Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation. The meeting fostered greater collaboration in biotechnology, and in 2024, we were proud to announce that the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) Global Centers program was extended to Finland for the first time. This development paved the way for exceptional Finnish collaboration among various research entities, including the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Business Finland, and the Academy of Finland. The goal of the upcoming projects is to facilitate the transition from fossil-based raw materials to bio-based alternatives and to reduce the environmental impact of meat production by integrating cellular agriculture and plant-based innovations. We can anticipate significant advancements in the coming years - including the emergence of new companies and production opportunities. In other words, this signifies growth for Finland.

In October 2024, VTT signed an important memorandum of understanding for collaboration with the US-based Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). This partnership will cover essential research areas related to future materials: biotechnology, critical raw materials, energy materials, and structural alloys as well as materials for fusion energy. The collaboration got off to a strong start, as VTT has been chosen as the first foreign partner to participate in an ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) research program funded by the US Department of Energy, focusing on facilitating the commercialization of fusion energy.

October saw many significant cooperative initiatives that weren’t limited to the United States. One of the most exciting ones was the HIFive project, funded by Business Finland and carried out in cooperation with Aalto University and several companies. The project focuses on the transformation of industrial work. The project delves into, among other things, the development of hybrid work and various types of remote work solutions – topics that couldn’t be more timely. Is there anything more critical to the future of work than finding a balance between flexibility, productivity, and well-being?

Cooperation with the NSF would not have been possible without a strong background in biotechnology research. Advancing research forms the foundation for everything, but at VTT, the emphasis is on creating impact. One way to achieve this is by forming new companies. In the biotechnology sector, VTT spin-off companies include SolarFoods (2017), Enifer (2020), Volare (2021), and Onego Bio (2022). These and other VTT spin-offs are typically based on several years of research. In November 2024, we were proud to unveil a new Finnish biotechnology-based company, Happy Plant Protein, which aims to enhance the availability of high-quality plant-based proteins while also boosting Finland’s self-sufficiency in protein production.

New technology companies have a considerable impact on sustainable growth worldwide. Now is the right time for Finland to invest public funding into raising the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of advanced technologies developed in universities and research institutions and systematically advancing different paths to commercialisation. VTT has plenty of untapped potential, and I believe that other research institutes and universities also hold a treasure trove of opportunities for new companies.

VTT technologies are usually commercialised through spin-offs or in collaboration with existing companies as part of various projects. In some instances, technology is commercialised by licensing it.

In December 2024, we advanced negotiations regarding the next phase of the Olefy chemical recycling technology for plastic waste. The Olefy technology enables the profitable production of high-quality material, comparable to virgin plastic, from previously unusable plastic waste. Implementing the Olefy technology requires an initial investment of hundreds of millions of euros, which is one reason why VTT’s previous commercialisation efforts did not gain traction.

At the beginning of 2024, we commenced discussions with Innventure, a US-based company, concerning the sale of a global license for commercializing the Olefy technology to its subsidiary Refinity, established at the end of the year. This sets the stage for the technology developed at VTT to become a key solution to the global plastic waste problem.

At VTT, the goal of research is impact. Impact is achieved when inventions and ideas enable new or improved products and services, new companies, sustainable global solutions, and social well-being. This blog presented some concrete examples, at varying stages of development, of how to build growth in Finland. The vision statement states that a fully possible Finland requires public and private investment in research and renewal, research infrastructures, talent, and, above all, cooperation.